PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK MAC JONES

PRESS CONFERENCE

October 25, 2023

Q: Who pulled off Buzz Lightyear better, you or some of your teammates?

MJ: Probably David [Andrews].

Q: David said he has never seen Star Wars. Have you ever seen Star Wars?

MJ: Yeah.

Q: You've had a lot of criticism throughout this season about your performance, but what do you think that Sunday's performance proved not only to you but also to those critics?

MJ: Really just want to build off the momentum and continue to do it, do it over and over again. Stick to the process, have expectations for yourself and don't pay attention to the other expectations. That's going to be big for me, and really starts in practice, right? Try to focus on 'how can you do it again'? How can you stack good days together''? That's going to be a very big focus for me this week.

Q: Is it easier to work on improvements over the next week when you come off such a positive win and positive outcome?

MJ: I always talk about the process and kind of what I do each week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and then get ready on Saturday for the game. Regardless of what happens, it's a one-week season every week. We understand that here, and that's important to understand, because you've got to go out there and do it each week.

Q: I asked Hunter [Henry] about Bill O'Brien, and he said he was the same guy every day. His reputation is that he's a fiery guy, we haven't really seen that on the sidelines. Do you see that behind the scenes?

MJ: Yeah, he does have a lot of fire. We all do, right? We love this game, and we've got to do it, like I said, every week.

Q: How important is his consistency?

MJ: Very important. That's really the word of the week for us. How can we do it over-and-over again and put good days and good plays together, is what I'm going to say.

Q: Does it help you and the team just to see the positive results? You work so hard at what you do, and you kind of got into a funk there, but to see the positive results and take that and put it into the bank going forward.

MJ: Yeah, just try and do it again, and keep doing it until it becomes consistent, like he just said.

Q: The Bills blitzed you a lot last week and you handled it pretty well, despite a new combo up front on the line. What do you think you did well last week and what do you want to improve on?

MJ: Yeah, I think that's a good question. Biggest thing, like you said, is just trusting everything. It's going to be different guys everywhere. You're going to play against different guys. Trust in my rules, trust in my process. They've got a great defense that we're about to go up against. Obviously played against them earlier in the year, and they've got good talent everywhere. They've got good coaching, and when you have both of those things in this league, you're going to have a good team. So, definitely a big challenge.

Q: Bill talked earlier about David Andrews' leadership and his presence this year with the young guys, and he used the word calm. David's a guy that we see with a lot of passion, very tough guy, obviously. How have you seen the calmness in his leadership with the young players, rookies in particular?

MJ: Yeah, David does a good job. Obviously, when you're an older player in your room, I feel like the knowledge and experience that you have can really help young people. That's something that stood out to me, regardless – receiver room with the older receivers, DBs, or whatever. Very good to have that on the team, and definitely has seen a lot of plays, played in a lot of different games, so that's important to use someone like that as a resource.

Q: You mentioned a few weeks ago your pre-snap checklist. Just curious what was on that checklist and what your process is like pre-snap?

MJ: Yeah, I don't really talk about that publicly, but definitely stick with what I do. There's a few things you can do. Every quarterback has some form of that, and for me it's about keeping it simple and like I said, do my job. If it's to hand it off, hand it off. If it's to throw it, throw it. If it's to read an RPO or whatnot, just try and read it out the right way. Try and just eliminate any errors and continue to stick to the process.

Q: When Matthew Slater broke down the team in the huddle after the game, he used the word 'family', what'd you think of that message and why do you think he chose that?

MJ: Yeah, it was good. I really liked it.

Q: Mac, how have you seen [Demario] Pop Douglas kind of stretch defenses, especially when he was put into motion as much as he was on Sunday?

MJ: Yeah, Pop has done a good job. I definitely enjoyed that part of the game. Just focus on, you know, how can we do that to get guys open, create areas in the defense that become open because of that, and you see that around the NFL, a lot of teams use motion. High school football, its big now. College football, it's been big for a while. I definitely enjoy watching other teams use it as well and what you can learn from that information.

Q: Just sticking with Pop. After he had that fumble early in the season, what did you see from him in bouncing back from that and how has your confidence grown in him, especially after seeing him play the way that he did on Sunday?

MJ: I've known of him since I was little. I know that he's always fought an uphill battle. He always talks about his size, right? He's always going to keep fighting, and I know that about him. I can be hard on him and try to raise that standard because I know where he comes from. I know how hard he works, and he's going to bring it every week.

Q: Talked about the chunk plays and big plays. You had 14 plays of 10 yards or more. How important is that for you to do that as an offense after having like 10 combined the previous two games? ….

MJ: Yeah, it's good. We just want to try to do it again. You know, what did we do well and how can you replicate that. Then what did we not do well and how can you learn from it.

Q: We heard from bill this morning about Jalen [Reagor] and what he's seen from him. What are some things that you've noticed from Jalen since he's joined the team?

MJ: He's great. Jalen, seen him in college, seen his college tape. He's a very fast football player. He does a great job learning the playbook quickly and one of the other things is in practice just how impressive he is in getting open, finishing and catching the ball. So, I really have a lot of respect for him and how he works. Hopefully, he can continue to grow.

Q: Referring to his role during Sunday's game, what kind of led to that, that you've noticed?

MJ: Like I said, just really good practice habits. He definitely shows speed, route running ability, knowing the plays, all that stuff. He just needs to continue to do that and be out there.

Q: Looking at the game from your perspective and the offense, what is this going to come down to, specifically, on Sunday?

MJ: We always talk about that in the offensive meeting room and with the team and everything. So, it's important to play with that mentality, and like we always talk about, run the ball throw the ball – whatever we have to do as an offense to win, we're going to try and do it really well.